Spot Leukaemia urge adults to check for signs of disease
Michelle Sterling, now 63, from Wales, was never one to go to the doctors, but her friends thought she may be having a stroke based on some symptoms she started to display in 2011.
That time, it turned out that the culprit behind wasn’t a stroke, but a childhood virus that was “attacking” her heart, which might actually have helped save her life.
One year later, when her urine turned “nearly black” and she experienced extreme chest pain, she called an ambulance and went to A&E, only to be told she had a chest infection.
When Michelle was sent home with antibiotics, she felt “embarrassed” to have wasted NHS resources.
But hours later, she was woken up by a loud and persistent banging at her front door.
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She opened the door to find a policeman, who was explaining she needed to return to the hospital immediately, as the triage nurse had sent her home before the results of her blood test had come back.
At the hospital, the then 52-year-old was told she had terminal leukaemia – a type of blood cancer – and she would need chemotherapy and a stem cell donor to survive.
Michelle, who had no prior symptoms, thinks that if it wasn’t for the childhood virus the year before, she wouldn’t have gone to the hospital and eventually died of leukaemia.
Having lost her husband Edward to a brain tumour eight years before her diagnosis, the woman, who never had any children, said she didn’t care whether she lived or died – but knew she had to try.
Michelle told PA Real Life: “I just thought my husband would never forgive me if I hadn’t tried because he tried.
“But for me, I’m not really bothered whether I die; my husband is there, my parents are there, my family is there waiting for me.”
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After seeing her husband’s six-year battle with a cancerous brain tumour, Michelle was hesitant to undergo treatment herself but she started daily intensive chemotherapy the same day she was given the daunting diagnosis.
Every part of her body hurt, she said, down to her eyelashes, which wasn’t made any easier by being kicked out of the flat she was renting at the time. Since she had sold her and her husband’s home, she was effectively temporarily homeless while undergoing cancer treatment.
Fortunately, Michelle’s friends helped her secure accommodation elsewhere.
While her doctors couldn’t find a donor for a bone marrow transplant, Michelle was in remission by the end of her first round of treatment at the University Hospital of Wales.
Despite her terminal diagnosis, she has been living cancer-free for 10 years now.
The 63-year-old now wants to continue travelling and enjoy life until she is reunited with her loved ones, who are “waiting” for her in heaven.
After her husband died in 2004, Michelle decided to go visit places such as Antarctica, China, and Alaska.
In her spare time, she also enjoys crafting, spending time with friends, and walking her two dogs Mabel and Winnie the Witch.
Michelle’s leukaemia is now monitored through blood tests once a year. She believes maintaining a positive mindset has been “half the battle” in helping her survive.
Michelle said: “There are days where I think, ‘the NHS were amazing, I’m so lucky to have lived in this country’ because if I’d have lived anywhere else, I probably would be dead.
“I didn’t choose to live on my own, I didn’t choose to have leukaemia, so I think the way I was brought up, you just have to get on with it. I’m very much a ‘the glass is full type of person, and we’ll get through it’… I think your mindset is sometimes half the battle.”
While her life is different to what she had planned, it has become her new “normal”, and she looks forward to celebrating her next milestone in remission.
The 63-year-old added: “I bought a home, I’ve got two lovely dogs, I’ve got wonderful friends, and I feel lucky that I had a wonderful husband – I think it’s how you view the world.
“I’d urge people to check any concerning symptoms, and for people going through any cancer at the minute, actually, half that treatment is you and who you are as a person, and your zest for life. Other people might have found it more difficult, but for me, it was just like another chapter of my amazing book.”
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